So much goes into creating a novel that when it is released there is a corresponding release of stress, emotion, and even some angst. A week ago, Leaving Darkness was released by WestBow Press. While I have experienced (and am still experiencing) all of those emotions, I also feel a sense of having completed an assignment.

Westbow is a self-publishing service that transcends others because of its mission, succinctly stated  on their main landing page as “Publishing Christian authors’ stories to bring Him glory.” I began my assignment in January of 2017 in response to a calling to create a story that communicates the effectiveness of sharing struggles in a Christian small group environment. Specifically, I drew on my experiences with Restore Small Groups, a Christian ministry with humble beginnings nearly 20 years ago as a local support group that has grown to help people around the world today live the lives God meant for them. I know, as I’m one of those.

I wanted to share this process of growing in faith as the foundational support of positive change by writing a story about just that. But what story? Not mine. My story, honestly, is boring. No, it had to be fiction. But that is what I had positioned myself to do, having written and self-published two novels. That experience taught me much about writing and gave me the confidence to tackle this project.

The concept of the darkness did come from my personal experience. Without going into details, many years ago I found myself in a place where the happy Greg had vanished, replaced by one who dreaded the mornings. I don’t think I was seriously depressed, certainly not where Lowell ended up (the main character in Leaving Darkness), but I was not myself and therefore could not fulfill God’s plan for me. Much like Lowell, I found a flier that led me to a support group, which subsequently led me out of my darkness, because of His grace.

Thus, Leaving Darkness is to bring Him glory and bring those lost to contemplate a path to light. For me, it represents a response to a calling. I hope the tale helps others as I was helped. But for me, I am finished. Well, writing it, that is. Now the marketing begins.

Leaving Darkness available now from Amazon.

Earlier this week I sent the completed manuscript for Leaving Darkness to the publisher. As the formatting, cover design, and other work commence, I plan to set aside some time to write about lessons learned. As indie authors, we should look at every opportunity to learn as we progress and hone our craft.

I decided to engage a development editor – that in itself was a smart move and a positive lesson in itself. The lessons in writing alone brought value – it was akin to taking an advanced college course in fiction writing. It helped that the editor I engaged was a college-level instructor as well.

An early and perhaps the most significant lesson from this graduate-level experience is learning what I dub POV Discipline. Of course, the point of view is how the story is told, and there are many examples. I wrote Leaving Darkness in limited third person, following the arcs of two characters, the protagonist and the antagonist. As you can imagine, this created the danger of mixing point of views.

I could have switched and restructured the antagonist’s portions to be seen from the protagonist, but doing so made no sense in the story I was trying to tell. I wanted to show the rise of one, the fall of another. My solution, as suggested by my editor, was to structure each chapter from one of the character’s point of view. Doing so was not easy, but it worked.

Still, there remained some elements of POV crossover. When POV discipline is not maintained from the start, it becomes very difficult to correct as the project matures. We gloss over POV step outs because the story is so familiar to us, yet when pointed out the error becomes so obvious.

Some are easy to cure – instead of, “He worried about what Bill was saying,” we can write, “Bill saw the worried look on Joe’s face after relating the bad news.” We still don’t know for sure that Joe is worried, but the message comes across that likely he is.

I never paid much attention to POV discipline in the past, but going forward it will be forefront in any future fiction project. I suspect some may be thinking, “Well, yeah, that’s obvious, Greg!” but for those of us without a formal fiction writing education, it can be a challenge. It would seem to maintain a consistent POV does not come naturally, rather it is a learned practice.

Today I completed the revisions to my third novel, Leaving Darkness. The next step is copy editing (hiring someone for that), then on to the publisher. It will be available from Westbow sometime…

This became a long project/process, one that at times has pushed me to the point of obsession. Unlike the previous two novels, which were honestly experiments in learning, Leaving Darkness is without a doubt and by far the most complete, sophisticated, meaningful writing work of my life (to date). I purposefully stretched the boundaries of my comfort zone in order to create a tale of hope.

Reaching down further (and if you’ve read this far, thank you), Leaving Darkness is my response to a calling from God. I was called to write this almost two years ago. It began as a three-sentence outline. Wow – how far it’s come.

Writing Leaving Darkness has influenced my career. I voluntarily left the security of a well-paying job nearly a year ago. Some may question my sanity (that’s okay, I’m kinda used to that). That was also in response to a calling – well, perhaps two. The first, and primary, was that I could do more with my “talents” – not that I was necessarily burying them, but that perhaps I wasn’t using them to give back as best I could. I had no business starting a business, but so far all has been well – in fact, we just signed on a new client this week.

The second reason I left my corporate position was to provide extra time and freedom to write. Now, starting and running a business is a 24x7x365 endeavor – if you don’t love what you do, don’t start a business. That’s not to say it consumes all of my time and efforts. I will say, though, that I may have underestimated just how difficult it has been. Still, I created the world I wanted – needed – to finish Leaving Darkness. I have the flexibility to write when inspiration hits. Plus I’ve gained at least 1.5 hours per day in raw commuting time (even my part-time office is only five minutes from my house).

Unlike my first two novels, which are very complex (but I maintain one day someone will understand the absolute genius of them), Leaving Darkness is a simple tale. It follows one who, well, leaves darkness – the darkness of depression. Perhaps I have committed a basic author mistake – you know the ending from the title (yes, Lowell leaves the darkness). But the story is not that he does, but how he does it – and how it impacts those around him.

I need to be clear though. My purpose for writing Leaving Darkness is not to entertain, although I’m fine if it does. My goal has always been to help those who may be near the decision of choosing a permanent solution to end a temporary problem. Unfortunately, that is all too timely a topic…

So tonight I celebrate a major milestone to a minor project that perhaps might, at some point, help someone lost in the awful cloak of darkness. That was His calling, and Leaving Darkness is my response. Hope and forgiveness are eternal. All we have to do is ask.

#LeavingDarkness

I haven’t blogged for a while, as I have been focused on a few projects. One has reached completion, the most meaningful book I’ve worked on to date – and I’m not the author.

A little over a year ago, my mother approached me with a folder full of papers with articles taped to them, each sheet a component of chapters. What she had done was take running articles she had written over the years, mainly for her local running clubs, and stitched them together in a unique way to tell her story. She began running on a dare in her late 40s and still runs regularly today as she approaches her 80th birthday. Yes, I wrote 80 – what an inspiration!

She asked me for help assembling and potentially publishing her story, as I had self-published a few works myself. Of course, I was going to help – this was her legacy! Thus began a long process, hampered somewhat by the separation of miles (she is in New York, I’m in Tennessee) and the fact that she’s not really a fan of the Internet. But we got it done – At The Pinnacle – One Woman’s Running Journey is available for pre-order, and will be released May 1.

In some way, I think that this was one of the reasons why I learned about the self-publishing route so that I would be prepared when her project came along, though I had no idea prior that this was something she wanted to do. I edited and wrote the foreword and the back cover summary, otherwise, all words are hers. I encourage you to consider her story, and close with the back cover summary:

“Go for it, Mom!” With those words of encouragement, Erika Abraham began a long running journey defined by dozens of years; thousands of miles; countless trophies, medals, and other awards; and many, many smiles. Running brought her confidence, led her to the love of her life, and showed her that despite earlier setbacks and pain, the best was yet to come. Her story is about running, laughing, and reaching new heights.

My first two novels, in some ways, were experiments. No, maybe that’s not the right word. Learning experiences comes closer to describing the processes and, in some ways, intent. Writing and self-publishing the first novel fulfilled the bucket-list task, the second proved to myself I could, and have a desire to, continue pursuing novel creation.

I like to say that life is about living*, a shorthand statement to summarize that I would rather try at something and fail than not have tried at all for the fear of failure. Believe me, I get that fear. I have been ensnared by that fear. It is paralyzing and debilitating, sapping the strength of the desire to try something new, fearful that others may reject the effort.

Writing is one way I counter that fear because I make many, many mistakes as a writer. On the surface that may seem like a contradiction, until realizing that growth is attained through mistakes. When exercising, muscles are torn down and built up. The Internet is filled with examples of famous success stories that are built upon failures. I wanted to learn the process of writing a novel, and to do so I prepped myself to fail repeatedly, not because I had no faith in my skills, rather that I believed in my ability to learn.

True self-publishing is great in that you do everything yourself, from drafting to developmental editing to content editing to layout to cover design to ISBN procurement and so on. Starting from scratch with Ingram Spark about five years ago, I have learned may lessons, enough to fill a book (there’s an idea). Now, as you patiently wait for the main theme of this post, I am in the process of one such lesson – the developmental editing.

If I were asked to pinpoint the most significant mistake I made in creating and publishing my first two novels, I’d state without hesitation they are too complicated. I tried to create a complicated afterlife environment as a vehicle to tell a grand story of temptation, forgiveness, and redemption spanning a century while addressing other heavy issues like abortion, depression, and communism. That’s a lot of stuff to cram into 160,000 or so words. I love the world I created, but cringe at the complexity. Lesson learned.

How could I have averted that? By engaging a professional developmental editor. When drafting my current novel, Leaving Darkness, I defined two changes from the start. First, the story would be simpler and the message more focused, and second I would engage another set of eyes, those who have done this many times before, to review the draft for continuity, story development, and just plain readability.

About two weeks ago I sent the draft manuscript to the developmental editor and three beta readers. I will likely receive feedback from the editor in two weeks, and the beta readers around the same time. For now, I wait and wonder. Is the story too complicated? Does it make sense? Is it fun to read? Is the message I want to convey received? I will summarize the results of the experience in a future post. For now, all I can do is wait.

*John 10:10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

I have run several marathons and many more half marathons over the past twenty years. Inevitably there are well-intentioned bystanders within the last quarter of the distance shouting words of encouragement, including “you’re almost there!” Unless those words come at mile 26 in a marathon, no, I am not “almost there.” Much agony, sweat, and pain remain.

Writing a novel is a similar process. When that rough first draft is completed some (particularly non-authors) may encourage you by saying that you’re almost finished. Nope – not even close. Reaching your desired word count and into your third revision – that’s a time to start thinking about the finish line.

At almost exactly this time last year I began my third novel, Leaving Darkness, about a man’s journey out of depression. I tried a different method that I described as Divide and Conquer. When I wrote this post in March of 2017, I had reached 3500 preliminary words towards my goal of 80,000 using this tactic. This is the update I promised then.

Today Leaving Darkness is substantially complete. At about 79,500 words, I have about reached my goal, and will likely exceed it as the editing and fine-tuning processes continue. Thus, I have essentially written a novel in a year. Considering writing is not my full-time job and I took three months off from all writing to start a consulting business, that’s not bad.

Therefore, my update on Divide and Conquer simply is this: it works. I was able to structure my thoughts logically, added details and plot elements at a measured pace, and never lost my way in the process. Leaving Darkness is by far the best of my three novels. The writing approach contrasts markedly with that of Temptations of the Innocent, written by “stream of consciousness.” That end product also contrasts with Leaving Darkness and was not one of my favorite works, but we learn from mistakes.

After I cross the manuscript finish line, now in sight and about 0.2 miles away, the next step will be to publish the novel. I’m exploring different venues there as well – stay tuned!

My two ongoing writing projects are vastly different. One is my third novel, first draft about 90% completed but stalled because of competing priorities. The other is not my work. I am performing the duties of editing, formatting, and publishing. Both will likely be out sometime in 2018.

While I am sworn to secrecy at the moment as to the author and topic of the second work, I know the author, and her story, quite well. Her work is an anthology of sorts, describing events, conquered obstacles, and personal revelations over several decades. It is a pleasure to work on this – just hearing (and in some cases reliving) the tales alone has been wonderful.

Therein is the genesis of a problem I should have seen coming. Being aware of the stories that spun some some vignettes (and mentioned in a couple as well), I began to reword some of her sections in my words based on my memories. I had no malicious intent, nor was I driven by insecurity. I simply was doing for her in the editing process what I do for myself constantly with my works – write, edit, refine, edit, refine, and so on.

Early on I realized I was not simply editing her words - I was replacing them. And not just words. I found myself overruling her style, imposing mine on her work. Again, no malicious intent – my style was better than hers. After all, I was the editor! Oh how arrogant . . .

Once that epiphany hit me, I stopped. Then I really began to read her story through her words. By doing so, I began to unfurl her style – different than mine, unique, and in many instances, better. The primary reason her style trumped mine is because of just that – it was hers, and this was her story.

I trashed the majority of the initial edits and started the process again. This time, I read to uncover her fluidity of prose, riding the descriptors and the twists and turns as she wove her unique tapestries. Instead of taking the blanket and tossing it out in favor of another I liked, I began mending small holes here and there, preserving and (hopefully) enhancing her artistic uniqueness. The work remained completely hers this time – as it should be.

I’m not a professional editor, nor am I trained as such, but I imagine there are courses that teach what I learned above through experience, If there are not, there should be. After all, editors may be writers, but their creativity must be tempered when refining another’s work, else there exists the danger that the original tale, with all of its intricacies in word and form, may be watered down or lost completely.